“…from the nation’s capital. First was the surprise resignation of Captain Steven Grant Rogers from the United States Army, which had loaned Rogers, more widely recognized as Captain America, to a little-known organization called the Strategic Homeland...”
Steve woke to the nearly muted mutter of a television and the worrying discovery that the asset was no longer in bed with him.
Bucky. I can call him Bucky again.
Bucky must have turned on the news.
Thank God I don’t have to punish him for it.
They hadn’t had sex. Steve hadn’t raped him again. Bucky had clearly expected it, but he hadn’t objected to cuddling up and going to sleep instead.
Steve needed to do something about that. The unquestioning compliance. He would never touch Bucky sexually again, no matter what HYDRA had conditioned into both of them.
No matter how the asset begged. Because it would and Bucky deserved better from Steve.
Didn't mean Steve didn’t want him—all this time and he still couldn’t help the want—but he could control his actions and he was making that choice for them both. Someday, Bucky might recover enough to want a sexual relationship with someone, but it wouldn’t be with Steve. Not after what he’d done.
For a long selfish moment, Steve shut his prickling eyes and let his self hatred swallow him. Then, he rolled over and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He took his shield with him.
A mechanical whir led him out of the tent and over to the adjoining testing chamber, where Bucky had apparently taken Steve’s permission (order) to finish last night’s pizza in the morning and run with it. There were one and a half slices remaining, if he counted the one held in Bucky’s motionless right hand. There was wariness in the Winter Soldier’s eyes. Wariness and a hint of you-said-I-could defiance.
Smiling in helpless relief, Steve said, “Good morning, Bucky.” He took the last untouched slice and added the box to the stack of them next to the trash can. He leaned the shield against the other side.
The pizza was sausage and tomato. He'd ordered one of everything on the menu. It was cold now and didn’t taste like home or freedom, but it was tastier and healthier than the cheeseburgers Tony Stark had suggested.
Good thing Stark had set them up above his company’s DC office. The entire legal department here had worked through the night and ordered large quantities of food several times. It made the pizza delivery unremarkable. Having a stack of pizzas and a large box delivered to the testing chamber in his company office in DC wouldn't be strange for Tony Stark. He didn't work from DC often, but he had workshops everywhere he had a place to live. This one predated Iron Man. He'd occasionally used these chambers for demonstrations.
It made it easy to deliver a Faraday cage right to a place where another one had long-since been installed. Whatever trackers the two of them had, they wouldn’t be tracked here.
Steve hadn’t had to say more than go this address and sit in the box. Don’t get out until a handler comes for you.
The asset had obeyed.
”Any mention of HYDRA?” Steve asked, trying not to wolf down the pizza in case doing so gave Bucky the impression he’d done something wrong by eating the rest. He nodded at the television. It was muted completely now.
The asset—Bucky, damn it—shook his head, faintly puzzled by the question. “No, Steve.” He looked relieved when Steve said nothing else.
Frowning, Steve sat down at the table and watched the news coverage. There was some truly spectacular footage of Iron Man and the Hulk trashing a handful of quinjets and collapsing the road out to the Triskelion. Some sort of large disturbance of water in the Potomac had been reported, but between the darkness and the lack of warning, the media had only caught the Avengers’ exit.
The Insight bay doors must not have even fully opened before the helicarriers were disabled or destroyed.
Hope Romanoff's okay. The news will have to be enough.
From what he understood, it was amazing, and maybe typical of Tony Stark, from what he'd seen, that they could get television inside a Faraday cage. He really hoped Tony or one of the others arrived soon. They had a sort of campsite in the Faraday cage, but there weren't exactly any woods to go piss in. Also, Steve needed to know what had happened.
As if in answer to his thoughts, the door to the workshop unsealed.
The asset dropped its half-eaten pizza crust, snapping to attention. Steve jumped to his feet, adrenaline surging.
It wasn't Tony.
"Heya, Steve. Asset," said Rumlow. He grinned open-mouthed, bruised and bandaged, but with stun batons held ready. A full team of tac-geared agents waited behind him. "Did you save us any pizza?" The STRIKE Commander strolled in, only the way he held his weapons showing any amount of tension. The rest of the agents filed in after him and spread out around them, weapons ready.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you," Steve ground out. It didn't matter what had gone wrong. Maybe HYDRA was watching all of Tony's properties. Maybe this had been a lucky guess.
"Oh, I bet. Like I said, you're not used to the modern surveillance state."
The asset was looking between the handlers slowly, as if only now understanding what Steve had done. God, he hoped it didn't side with Rumlow.
"Maybe not," he said lowly, "but it seems like I make a decent covert operative."
Rumlow laughed at him. "Please, Rogers, you know you wouldn't have got anywhere on your own."
"Probably not," Steve admitted. He bared his teeth. "Thanks for that, Brock. I learned a lot from you."
The surrounding agents shifted in agitation.
"You're a lot like the asset, you realize that, Stevie?"
"Don't call me that," Steve said evenly. "That name's not for you."
Ignoring him, Rumlow continued, "Easily trained. Desperate for a scrap of affection or companionship. So willing to do whatever you're told is necessary. If we could have put you in the chair under Fury's nose, you would have been perfect. You still could be. Last chance. Come back in now and things will go a hell of a lot easier for you both."
"Is that why it's okay for you to lust after me, Brock?" Steve deflected. Don't think about it. You did what you had to. "Because I'm a supersoldier, I don't count as a man? I never did buy into the idea you just wanted to help me out."
Rumlow scoffed. "Well, I mean, who wouldn't want a shot at the pinnacle of human perfection? No, I mean this." With that, he lunged.
Steve caught the first baton on his arm, lightning lancing through him until he grabbed up his shield and knocked Rumlow away with enough force to send him through the tent to tumble over the far side of the bed. The rest of the agents went down just as easy.
No part of Bucky moved except for his eyes flicking between Steve and where Rumlow was picking himself up.
Not taking his focus from Steve, Rumlow waved a baton to indicate all the downed agents. "All that raw potential. You can't help being what you are. All we had to do was get you to comply, and maybe it took you a bit with all your fucking stubbornness, but you buckled every time with the right promises of pain and reward."
"I've always been willing to destroy myself to destroy HYDRA." They circled each other cautiously.
The grin on Rumlow's face widened. "Yeah, they did a great job on you. What d'you want to bet you give it up easier the next time we wake you?" The expression turned mocking. "Captain?"
Steve narrowed his eyes. It's not true. I'm not a Winter Soldier. I never was. "Gotta say," he said, trying to maneuver his opponent away from the door and waiting for a misstep, "Bucky was a hell of a lot more convincing. Was that your idea?"
With a nasty laugh, Rumlow responded, "I think the thought just came naturally. Why wouldn't it?"
"Because it's not true," Steve said flatly and tossed his shield at the HYDRA Commander.
Rumlow tried to deflect with his batons, but there was too much force behind the shield. He went down and stayed down.
Breathing a little more heavily than strictly necessary, Steve turned to the Winter Soldier. Calculating blue eyes stared back, then fell submissively. "Bucky?"
Fill 100/110: Undeniable Plausibility
“…from the nation’s capital. First was the surprise resignation of Captain Steven Grant Rogers from the United States Army, which had loaned Rogers, more widely recognized as Captain America, to a little-known organization called the Strategic Homeland...”
Steve woke to the nearly muted mutter of a television and the worrying discovery that the asset was no longer in bed with him.
Bucky. I can call him Bucky again.
Bucky must have turned on the news.
Thank God I don’t have to punish him for it.
They hadn’t had sex. Steve hadn’t raped him again. Bucky had clearly expected it, but he hadn’t objected to cuddling up and going to sleep instead.
Steve needed to do something about that. The unquestioning compliance. He would never touch Bucky sexually again, no matter what HYDRA had conditioned into both of them.
No matter how the asset begged. Because it would and Bucky deserved better from Steve.
Didn't mean Steve didn’t want him—all this time and he still couldn’t help the want—but he could control his actions and he was making that choice for them both. Someday, Bucky might recover enough to want a sexual relationship with someone, but it wouldn’t be with Steve. Not after what he’d done.
For a long selfish moment, Steve shut his prickling eyes and let his self hatred swallow him. Then, he rolled over and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He took his shield with him.
A mechanical whir led him out of the tent and over to the adjoining testing chamber, where Bucky had apparently taken Steve’s permission (order) to finish last night’s pizza in the morning and run with it. There were one and a half slices remaining, if he counted the one held in Bucky’s motionless right hand. There was wariness in the Winter Soldier’s eyes. Wariness and a hint of you-said-I-could defiance.
Smiling in helpless relief, Steve said, “Good morning, Bucky.” He took the last untouched slice and added the box to the stack of them next to the trash can. He leaned the shield against the other side.
The pizza was sausage and tomato. He'd ordered one of everything on the menu. It was cold now and didn’t taste like home or freedom, but it was tastier and healthier than the cheeseburgers Tony Stark had suggested.
Good thing Stark had set them up above his company’s DC office. The entire legal department here had worked through the night and ordered large quantities of food several times. It made the pizza delivery unremarkable. Having a stack of pizzas and a large box delivered to the testing chamber in his company office in DC wouldn't be strange for Tony Stark. He didn't work from DC often, but he had workshops everywhere he had a place to live. This one predated Iron Man. He'd occasionally used these chambers for demonstrations.
It made it easy to deliver a Faraday cage right to a place where another one had long-since been installed. Whatever trackers the two of them had, they wouldn’t be tracked here.
Steve hadn’t had to say more than go this address and sit in the box. Don’t get out until a handler comes for you.
The asset had obeyed.
”Any mention of HYDRA?” Steve asked, trying not to wolf down the pizza in case doing so gave Bucky the impression he’d done something wrong by eating the rest. He nodded at the television. It was muted completely now.
The asset—Bucky, damn it—shook his head, faintly puzzled by the question. “No, Steve.” He looked relieved when Steve said nothing else.
Frowning, Steve sat down at the table and watched the news coverage. There was some truly spectacular footage of Iron Man and the Hulk trashing a handful of quinjets and collapsing the road out to the Triskelion. Some sort of large disturbance of water in the Potomac had been reported, but between the darkness and the lack of warning, the media had only caught the Avengers’ exit.
The Insight bay doors must not have even fully opened before the helicarriers were disabled or destroyed.
Hope Romanoff's okay. The news will have to be enough.
From what he understood, it was amazing, and maybe typical of Tony Stark, from what he'd seen, that they could get television inside a Faraday cage. He really hoped Tony or one of the others arrived soon. They had a sort of campsite in the Faraday cage, but there weren't exactly any woods to go piss in. Also, Steve needed to know what had happened.
As if in answer to his thoughts, the door to the workshop unsealed.
The asset dropped its half-eaten pizza crust, snapping to attention. Steve jumped to his feet, adrenaline surging.
It wasn't Tony.
"Heya, Steve. Asset," said Rumlow. He grinned open-mouthed, bruised and bandaged, but with stun batons held ready. A full team of tac-geared agents waited behind him. "Did you save us any pizza?" The STRIKE Commander strolled in, only the way he held his weapons showing any amount of tension. The rest of the agents filed in after him and spread out around them, weapons ready.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you," Steve ground out. It didn't matter what had gone wrong. Maybe HYDRA was watching all of Tony's properties. Maybe this had been a lucky guess.
"Oh, I bet. Like I said, you're not used to the modern surveillance state."
The asset was looking between the handlers slowly, as if only now understanding what Steve had done. God, he hoped it didn't side with Rumlow.
"Maybe not," he said lowly, "but it seems like I make a decent covert operative."
Rumlow laughed at him. "Please, Rogers, you know you wouldn't have got anywhere on your own."
"Probably not," Steve admitted. He bared his teeth. "Thanks for that, Brock. I learned a lot from you."
The surrounding agents shifted in agitation.
"You're a lot like the asset, you realize that, Stevie?"
"Don't call me that," Steve said evenly. "That name's not for you."
Ignoring him, Rumlow continued, "Easily trained. Desperate for a scrap of affection or companionship. So willing to do whatever you're told is necessary. If we could have put you in the chair under Fury's nose, you would have been perfect. You still could be. Last chance. Come back in now and things will go a hell of a lot easier for you both."
"Is that why it's okay for you to lust after me, Brock?" Steve deflected. Don't think about it. You did what you had to. "Because I'm a supersoldier, I don't count as a man? I never did buy into the idea you just wanted to help me out."
Rumlow scoffed. "Well, I mean, who wouldn't want a shot at the pinnacle of human perfection? No, I mean this." With that, he lunged.
Steve caught the first baton on his arm, lightning lancing through him until he grabbed up his shield and knocked Rumlow away with enough force to send him through the tent to tumble over the far side of the bed. The rest of the agents went down just as easy.
No part of Bucky moved except for his eyes flicking between Steve and where Rumlow was picking himself up.
Not taking his focus from Steve, Rumlow waved a baton to indicate all the downed agents. "All that raw potential. You can't help being what you are. All we had to do was get you to comply, and maybe it took you a bit with all your fucking stubbornness, but you buckled every time with the right promises of pain and reward."
"I've always been willing to destroy myself to destroy HYDRA." They circled each other cautiously.
The grin on Rumlow's face widened. "Yeah, they did a great job on you. What d'you want to bet you give it up easier the next time we wake you?" The expression turned mocking. "Captain?"
Steve narrowed his eyes. It's not true. I'm not a Winter Soldier. I never was. "Gotta say," he said, trying to maneuver his opponent away from the door and waiting for a misstep, "Bucky was a hell of a lot more convincing. Was that your idea?"
With a nasty laugh, Rumlow responded, "I think the thought just came naturally. Why wouldn't it?"
"Because it's not true," Steve said flatly and tossed his shield at the HYDRA Commander.
Rumlow tried to deflect with his batons, but there was too much force behind the shield. He went down and stayed down.
Breathing a little more heavily than strictly necessary, Steve turned to the Winter Soldier. Calculating blue eyes stared back, then fell submissively. "Bucky?"
"Yes, Steve." Bucky's shoulders slumped slightly. "I'm yours. Ready to comply."
They were free, but Steve's revelation from the Retreat, that Bucky was the asset as much as the asset was Bucky, had never felt so heavy.